This research sought to comprehend the impacts which the experience of premature exclusion from school and that of second chance schooling have on the life of working class adults, privileging the narrative of former students of a programme of adult and youth education. It also sought to raise elements, which contribute to verify the pertinence of considering Adult and Youth Education as a mechanism, which helps to attenuate the consequences of social exclusion, in the struggle in favour of effective citizenship. The research is situated in the thematic fields of Adult and Youth Education, social exclusion/exclusion from the school and education and citizenship. These thematic fields were articulated with each other and this articulation was later confronted with empirical data collected specifically for this purpose.
adult and youth education; social exclusion; education and citizenship